Proverbs 29:18 KJV vs Every Other Translation

[Osage Bluestem]

In another thread a very articulate poster brought up a translation difference in the KJV as opposed to all other versions. I think this is interesting. Is it possible to defend the KJV translation of the Hebrew text?

Proverbs 29:18 KJV
18Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.

Pro 29:18 KJV Where there is noH369 vision,H2377 the peopleH5971 perish:H6544 but he that keepethH8104 the law,H8451 happyH835 is he.

H6544
פּרע
pâra‛
paw-rah'
A primitive root; to loosen; by implication to expose, dismiss; figuratively absolve, begin: - avenge, avoid, bare, go back, let, (make) naked, set at nought, perish, refuse, uncover.


Here is how the other major translations present it.

Proverbs 29:18 NKJV
18 Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint;
But happy is he who keeps the law.

Proverbs 29:18 ESV
18Where there is no prophetic vision the people cast off restraint,
but blessed is he who keeps the law.

Proverbs 29:18 NASB
18Where there is no vision, the people are unrestrained,
But happy is he who keeps the law.

Proverbs 29:18 HCSB
18 Without revelation people run wild,
but one who keeps the law will be happy.

Proverbs 29:18 NIV
18 Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint;
but blessed is he who keeps the law.

Proverbs 29:18 Geneva 1599
18 Where there is no vision, the people decay: but he that keepeth the Law, is blessed.

Here is Matthew Henry's commentary on Proverbs 29:18

18 Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.

See here, I. The misery of the people that want a settled ministry: Where there is no vision, no prophet to expound the law, no priest or Levite to teach the good knowledge of the Lord, no means of grace, the word of the Lord is scarce, there is no open vision (1 Sam. iii. 1), where it is so the people perish; the word has many significations, any of which will apply here. 1. The people are made naked, stripped of their ornaments and so exposed to shame, stripped of their armour and so exposed to danger. How bare does a place look without Bibles and ministers, and what an easy prey is it to the enemy of souls! 2. The people rebel, not only against God, but against their prince; good preaching would make people good subjects, but, for want of it, they are turbulent and factious, and despise dominions, because they know no better. 3. The people are idle, or they play, as the scholars are apt to do when the master is absent; they do nothing to any good purpose, but stand all the day idle, and sporting in the market-place, for want of instruction what to do and how to do it. 4. They are scattered as sheep having no shepherd, for want of the masters of assemblies to call them and keep them together, Mark vi. 34. They are scattered from God and their duty by apostasies, from one another by divisions; God is provoked to scatter them by his judgments, 2 Chron. xv. 3, 5. 5. They perish; they are destroyed for lack of knowledge, Hos. iv. 6. See what reason we have to be thankful to God for the plenty of open vision which we enjoy.

II. The felicity of a people that have not only a settled, but a successful ministry among them, the people that hear and keep the law, among whom religion is uppermost; happy are such a people and every particular person among them. It is not having the law, but obeying it, and living up to it, that will entitle us to blessedness.

Matthew Henry put enough thought into this translation of Proverbs 29:18 that he taught about it and wrote about it. What would he think to see the new translations that are different?

Does it all just boil down to a difference in the underlying texts that were used?

Can someone defend the KJV translators in this instance?

 

[MW]

Can someone defend the KJV translators in this instance?

The AV provides the other translation in the margin.